Europe’s Ariane 5 workhorse lit up the night skies over the edge of the Amazon Thursday night, rumbling into orbit on a record-setting mission with a pair of high-powered broadband satellites for the United States and Europe

Europe’s Ariane 5 workhorse launch vehicle rolls to the ELA-3 launch complex at the Guiana Space Center on May 31, 2017 for liftoff with the ViaSat-2 and Eutelsat 172B communications satellites that set a new record for the heaviest Geotransfer payload lifted by Arianespace.

Europe’s Ariane 5 workhorse reached its launch pad on the edge of the Amazon jungle on Wednesday in preparation for a Thursday night liftoff with a pair of milestone communications satellites from the United States and Europe.

An Ariane 5 rocket takes shape at the Guiana Space Center for its third launch of 2017 with the record-setting ViaSat-2 Internet satellite and Eutelsat 172B, the first all-electric satellite to launch atop the European workhorse launcher.